Well, after getting hammered to the wall about my review of Sholay, I'm back again to review another bloated piece of Indian film-making. At 2 ½ hours, Awaara certainly has a lot to live up to..
A prisoner is on trial for hitting a judge! The prisoner has no counsel! But wait! At the last minute a counsel comes sweeping in! (HOW many times have I seen this?) Who is she? What connection does she have with the prisoner AND the judge? Heck, what connection does the prisoner have with the judge? All of this is answered as we, of course, go into FlashBackLand..
Awaara begins with a wife of a would-be magistrate who is kidnapped by a thief for a few days. When she is returned unharmed, The magistrate learns that she is pregnant! Who is the father? Thinking that the father is the bandit, and since we are talking 1950's India, the mother is thrown onto the street! (But not before we get many MANY clichéd shots of windows open, drapes blowing in the wind!) Soon, the child is born into poverty, and is forced to lead the life that, at least what the magistrate says, was given to him.
He meets a cute little girl, and she invites him to her birthday party, but he is ostracized because of his societal standing, and is soon arrested for a crime and is send off to juvvy prison.
When he gets out several years later, he goes back to the only life he knows, which is crime, and during a somewhat botched robbery, he bumps into a lady. Yes! The birthday girl from several years back! And they start off on an affair that gets sillier and sillier as the time goes on (and on and on) Predictable from the very get go (It was immediately apparent what relationship the judge, the lawyer and the president had), filled with yawnish musical numbers, broody acting and a slow, slow sluggish pace. What COULD have been an interesting caste drama turns into a bloated mess.
A prisoner is on trial for hitting a judge! The prisoner has no counsel! But wait! At the last minute a counsel comes sweeping in! (HOW many times have I seen this?) Who is she? What connection does she have with the prisoner AND the judge? Heck, what connection does the prisoner have with the judge? All of this is answered as we, of course, go into FlashBackLand..
Awaara begins with a wife of a would-be magistrate who is kidnapped by a thief for a few days. When she is returned unharmed, The magistrate learns that she is pregnant! Who is the father? Thinking that the father is the bandit, and since we are talking 1950's India, the mother is thrown onto the street! (But not before we get many MANY clichéd shots of windows open, drapes blowing in the wind!) Soon, the child is born into poverty, and is forced to lead the life that, at least what the magistrate says, was given to him.
He meets a cute little girl, and she invites him to her birthday party, but he is ostracized because of his societal standing, and is soon arrested for a crime and is send off to juvvy prison.
When he gets out several years later, he goes back to the only life he knows, which is crime, and during a somewhat botched robbery, he bumps into a lady. Yes! The birthday girl from several years back! And they start off on an affair that gets sillier and sillier as the time goes on (and on and on) Predictable from the very get go (It was immediately apparent what relationship the judge, the lawyer and the president had), filled with yawnish musical numbers, broody acting and a slow, slow sluggish pace. What COULD have been an interesting caste drama turns into a bloated mess.